ST3
Trauma & Orthopaedics ST3 Interview Question Bank
Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery ST3 Interview Preparation Platform. With PrepSurg's Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery ST3 Question Bank, walk into your T&O ST3 interview having already practised every station. The national T&O ST3…
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More than a question bank
Everything your enrolment includes.
Premium learning tools
Ask the tutor
Ask about any lesson and get a clear explanation with a short clinical example.
Live mock interviews
Get matched with another candidate and practise stations on a video call.
National study groups
Join candidates across the country to share tips and plan practice sessions.
Personal lesson notes
Write notes on each lesson and find them all again in your dashboard.
About this course
T&O ST3 interview preparation · 2027 recruitment
The 2027 Trauma & Orthopaedics ST3 Interview Revision Platform: Question Bank, Live Practice and Mocks with Other Candidates
Walk into your T&O ST3 interview having already practised every station.
Preparing for the 2027 national T&O ST3 interview? It's four 10-minute stations, each scored by two interviewers. Knowing the answer isn't enough: you have to say it clearly, in a structured way, against the clock. PrepSurg gives you worked stations to learn from, real people to practise with, and tutors to ask when you're stuck.
worked stations across all four interview stations
- Core questions plus harder stretch questions in every station
- Key points and a spoken, first-person model answer
- Scoring guides, common pitfalls and current guidance
The interview
The T&O ST3 interview format: four 10-minute stations
The interview is held online in a 60-minute slot. Each station lasts 10 minutes and is scored independently by two interviewers across set domains.
Commitment to Specialty
Previously the Portfolio station. Your motivation, development, leadership, organisation and academic work, presented with specific evidence.
Clinical
Two 5-minute scenarios from trauma or elective practice, often built around X-rays. Tests technical knowledge, decision-making and situational awareness.
Prioritisation
Several cases to put in order, typically as the on-call registrar planning a trauma list and deciding who to see first. Tests judgement under pressure.
Communication
A standalone station since 2024, built around a conversation with a patient. Tests how you gather and give information, as well as what you know.
How competitive is T&O ST3? In 2025, there were 684 applications for 150 posts, a competition ratio of about 4.6 to 1. Always check the current applicant handbook, person specification and timeline published by NHS England for your recruitment round.
2027 recruitment
T&O ST3 2027: what to expect and when
National T&O ST3 recruitment is run by NHS England's national recruitment office, with one application through Oriel for posts across England and Scotland. The 2027 timeline hasn't been published yet, but recent rounds give a reliable guide to when you'll need to be ready.
Usually November
The 2026 round opened on 20 November 2025, and the 2025 round on 14 November 2024.
Verified in January
Your self-assessment scores are checked against your evidence, which in 2026 took place on 27–28 January.
Late March or early April
Interviews ran online on 24–27 March 2026 and 1–4 April 2025.
Mid-April
Initial offers were released on 14 April in the 2026 round.
These are previous-round dates, not 2027 dates. Confirm the 2027 timeline, applicant handbook and person specification on the national T&O ST3 recruitment page and Oriel once they're published, as formats and dates can change.
The question bank
T&O ST3 interview question bank: 100+ worked stations
Every station follows the same structure, so you can learn the content and practise the delivery at the same time.
Core and stretch questions
Each station starts with the questions most panels ask, then pushes further with stretch questions for when the interviewer keeps going.
Key points and model answers
A checklist of what to cover, plus a first-person model answer written to be spoken within the time allowed.
Scoring guides and pitfalls
What a high-scoring answer looks like against a weak one, and the mistakes that cost candidates marks.
Built on current guidance
Answers reference current national guidance and the UK trials behind them, checked against their sources.
Practise with people, not just a question bank
T&O ST3 mock interviews, national study groups and Ask the tutor
Practise out loud under real timing
Get matched with another T&O ST3 candidate and run stations over video, taking turns as candidate and interviewer. Practise to 10-minute timing, with the station's scoring guide showing your partner exactly what to listen for.
Communication stations come with a role-player brief, so your partner knows how to play the patient, including the concern you need to draw out.
Prepare alongside candidates from across the UK
Join a study group of T&O ST3 applicants. Compare how you'd answer a station, talk through the prioritisation lists you disagree on, and organise mocks with people at the same stage as you.
Stuck on a station? Ask a tutor
Send a question to a PrepSurg tutor directly from the station you're working on. Whether it's a guideline you're unsure of or why one answer scores higher than another, you'll get a clear answer.
Add your own notes to every station too, and build a revision sheet for the night before.
Try a sample
Sample T&O ST3 clinical station
This is the first question from one of the trauma stations. Answer it out loud before opening the panels.
A 19-year-old footballer is admitted with a closed tibial shaft fracture. At 23:00 his pain is escalating despite oral morphine, passive toe extension is very painful, his calf is tense and sensation in the first web space is reduced. His foot pulses are present.
What is going on, and what do you do immediately?
Key points
- Acute compartment syndrome until proven otherwise; it's a clinical diagnosis
- Present pulses don't reassure: loss of pulses is a late sign
- Reduced first web space sensation points to the deep peroneal nerve and anterior compartment
- Release all circumferential dressings to skin, elevate and re-evaluate within 30 minutes (BOAST)
- Inform the consultant; once diagnosed, decompress immediately
Model answer
This is acute compartment syndrome until proven otherwise. He has pain out of proportion to the injury, pain on passive stretch, a tense calf and reduced sensation in the first web space, which points to the anterior compartment. His pulses are present, but that doesn't reassure me, because loss of pulses is a late sign.
I'd see him straight away, release the backslab and all dressings to skin, elevate the leg without raising it excessively above the heart, and re-evaluate within 30 minutes, as BOAST recommends. I'd tell my consultant and book an emergency theatre, because once the diagnosis is made, he needs immediate decompression.
Stretch question
He's sedated in intensive care instead. How would you monitor him?
Clinical signs are unreliable when sedated, so I'd use continuous compartment pressure monitoring. BOAST says a difference between diastolic and compartment pressure of less than 30 mmHg indicates increased risk, with the decision to decompress made by a consultant.
How to prepare
How to prepare for the T&O ST3 interview
Learn the stations
Work through the bank station by station. Cover the key points, then read the model answer and note what you'd say differently.
Talk them through
Take the hard ones to your study group, and ask a tutor when you need a definitive answer.
Practise out loud
Run live mocks under 10-minute timing, swapping between candidate and interviewer.
Sharpen before the day
Use your notes and mock feedback to build a revision sheet, then finish on the stretch questions.
T&O ST3 interview FAQs
When are the T&O ST3 2027 interviews?
The 2027 dates haven't been published yet. In recent rounds, interviews took place in late March or early April (24–27 March 2026; 1–4 April 2025), with applications opening in November. Check the national recruitment page for confirmed 2027 dates.
What is the T&O ST3 interview format?
An online interview with four 10-minute stations: Commitment to Specialty, Clinical (two 5-minute trauma or elective scenarios), Prioritisation and Communication. Two interviewers score each station independently.
How competitive is T&O ST3?
In 2025, there were 684 applications for 150 posts, a competition ratio of about 4.6 to 1.
Does the course cover all four interview stations?
Yes: Commitment to Specialty, Clinical (trauma and elective), Prioritisation and Communication, with over 100 worked stations in total. The full list is in the course content section below.
How are the model answers written?
Every question has a checklist of key points and a first-person model answer, written to be spoken within the time allowed. Commitment to Specialty answers use placeholders so you can drop in your own examples.
What are stretch questions?
Harder follow-up questions at the end of each station, for when the panel keeps pushing. They're the questions that separate good answers from excellent ones.
How do live mocks work?
You're matched with another candidate and take turns as candidate and interviewer over video. Each station includes a scoring guide, and communication stations include a role-player brief for your partner.
Is the content based on current guidance?
Yes. Answers reference current national guidance, such as BOAST, NICE and BOA standards, and the UK trials that shaped practice, and they're checked against their sources. Always check the latest NHS England recruitment documents for your round, as the interview format can change.
Course curriculum
5 topics · 116 lessons
01Clinical - Trauma
40 lessons
Clinical - Trauma
40 lessons
02Clinical - Elective
35 lessons
Clinical - Elective
35 lessons
03Commitment to Specialty
6 lessons
Commitment to Specialty
6 lessons
04Prioritisation
15 lessons
Prioritisation
15 lessons
05Communication
20 lessons
Communication
20 lessons